McLeod signals title ambitions after career weekend

Cameron McLeod has stated his 2025 Dunlop Super2 Series title aspirations after a successful weekend in the opening round at the Thrifty Sydney 500 - Opening Round.

Moving from PremiAir Racing to Kelly Racing over the off-season, the 20-year-old was in devastating form on Saturday, claiming a maiden pole, and a maiden victory in a lights-to-flag performance complete with a fastest lap.

It was a special weekend for the McLeod family, with Cameron emulating his father's achievements of scoring pole and a race win in the first ever round of the development series, also held at Sydney Motorsport Park in 2000.

McLeod could only qualify 10th on Sunday, but raced his way to eighth after an intense battle with Tickford's Rylan Gray, with the result enough for the Kelly Racing driver to claim second for the round behind Jordyn Sinni.

Sitting only six points behind the Eggleston Motorsport driver heading into Round 2 in Tasmania, the 2023 Mike Kable Young Gun Award winner has made no secret of his ambitions for the rest of the year.

Back at the team with which McLeod had his standout Super3 season in 2023, and the team which also provided Aaron Cameron with a runner-up finish in last year's Super2 Series, McLeod is full of belief he can go one better.

"That's what I'm looking to do, that's what everyone's looking to do, that's why it's such a tough championship," said McLeod in the post-round press conference when asked if he can win the title.

"Aaron just kept his nose clean last year for the whole year. He didn't have many wins, but he was always there, so I think that's my goal.

"Yesterday to get that win was just a big plus, but I think if I just keep chipping away and get those top fives I'll be there in the end, because you never know.

There was a big change in the running order day-on-day in the Super2 paddock at Sydney, with McLeod's drop in performance a surprise given his dominance on Saturday.

Paired with veteran engineer Wally Storey in 2025, there is still plenty to learn for the Gold Coaster, who was engineered by Storey at last year's finale in Adelaide, with changes made to the car for Sunday in Sydney a step backward.

"Even though I won the race yesterday, you kind of want to keep making changes, and there was still a little bit in the car so we took that risk just to change that little bit, and it doesn't always work out," he said.

"It's Round 1, we've still got five more rounds to figure it out, so I think it's just a little bit of that, and as Jordyn said the time of day, that changes the car massively, and especially what category is out in front of you.

"There's a bit to it, but it's Round 1, we learn, and hopefully we get that sorted for Round 2."

McLeod also recounted his brave move around the outside of Turn 1 on Gray on Sunday, saying that it was something unusual about Gray's start that inspired his audacious pass.

"At the start I'm not sure what was going on, but I was stuck behind him and he let about four cars drive around the outside of him, so I was pretty eager to get back past him, which I did, and ultimately he caught back up to me," he said.

"I didn't see a gap behind him, so I knew there was no one behind him to catch if we had a little bit of a battle there, so I tried to hold my ground, and I knew someone had to give at Turn 1, and I was ahead a little bit.

"I just kind of bombed in through there, and the car was good at Turn 1 as well, it had real good turn, so I was going in there with a lot of confidence."

Round 2 of the 2025 Dunlop Super2 Series will take place at the Tasmania Super 440 from May 9-11.